Making His Mark
by NightShade.The.Patient.One
Summary: For Souldin's contest. Despite being made the newest Smasher, Little Mac is still seen as just 'back-up' by some of the others. Will he be able to show what he's made of and earn their respect?


**Night Shade here! I saw that Souldin was holding a contest, and I've had an idea for something like this for a while, so here you all go! I realize that I might be within the guidelines of your rules, but I'll explain in the later chapters.**

**Now, ON WITH THE FIC!**

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><p>"So, you wish to join the fight roster?" The giant hand was not totally surprised. Certain Assist Trophies come by and ask for a 'promotion'. Never once had Master Hand allowed them, not because he didn't want to, but he felt that they were unbalanced. Sure, Waluigi can smack a good amount of fighters around, but with his awful sportsmanship, he would start attacking anyone who had beaten him, even after the match. Lyn was fast, but she lacked endurance, hence why she was one of the 'invincible assists'.<p>

However, this current person had never come to Master Hand for a promotion. He would usually train in the Mansion's weight room, since that's where his potential was. From what the entity could see, the fighter looked much more streamlined, his muscle more compact than before. His tan skin looked healthy, glistening with what appeared to be sweat. '_Either he came to see me after a workout or he's a bit nervous- maybe both_', observed the Glove as he gazed down at the fighter and his coach.

"You bet he does," said coach boasted. "He called me up a few months ago, saying that he needed my help. Since then, when he wasn't on call for brawls, we've been working our butts off, preparing for whatever you can throw at us."

The last statement caught Master Hand's attention. "Us? Do you plan on joining as well? I admit that you look much more in shape than the last time I met you, but I believe that you well past your prime."

The second person chuckled a bit. After his protégé called him up, the trainer decided to do some actual training himself. He still had a bit of a pot belly, but he felt like a new man. "Heh heh, no sir, but that's part of what I'm here for." He patted his student and best friend on the shoulder. "I want you to test him, and whether he wins or loses the bout, judge him fairly. However, if you let him join the roster and he wins, I want a spot on your medical team, as well as consideration for taking his place as an Assist Trophy."

At this, Master Hand was surprised, but grateful. Sure, he had a good medical team, and Doctor Mario was a superb physician, but he mostly specialized in inner-body health problems, such as illness or infections. This trainer had experience with broken bones and other physical trauma, something that happens frequently in these fights, despite the damage reduction features on every fighter (no matter how much you reduce its lethality, a Falcon Punch will still hurt like hell). "Hmm…interesting, but I must ask you," he pointed dramatically to the reason for this meeting, "do you have what it takes? Do you think that your new training will be to your benefit? Are you ready to be a Smasher?"

The potential fighter did not immediately answer. He thought back to when he decided to go for broke. He was unsure, but he knew he could do. No expected him to try out to even be a part of this tournament. No one expected him to come to the point that he would try out himself.

Then again, no one expected him to take out the World Boxing Champion, Mr. Sandman, in three rounds, but he proved them all wrong.

With his eyes glowing with determination, the current Boxing Champion, Little Mac, looked at the creature that would decide his role in this world.

"I am ready."

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><p>The Battlefield was as basic as you can get. One large main platform with three smaller ones formed in a mid-air pyramid. Since this was a general stage with no special properties, it could be used as a fair-play tryout stage.<p>

In the audience zone were the current Smashers. Most were waiting to see if Little Mac indeed had the makings of a Smasher. "I hope this guy makes it," Samus spoke out.

"Oh? Why is that?" Mario asked.

"Simple: he is the only one here that has a true hand-to-hand combat style. I want to see if an expert in their field could take me on." Samus replied with a grin of suspense and mischief.

Slightly disturbed by her sudden devious demeanor, Fox quickly scooted away.

Suddenly the stage began to liven up. From five portals, members of the Fighting Alloy Corps dropped down from above, awaiting their foe. Moments later, Little Mac arrived via trophy transfer. Punching his famous green gloves together, he quickly shifted into a fighting stance, arms in front of his body.

Master Hand's voice rung out through the air, silencing any chit-chat. "This match is to determine challenger Little Mac's position into the Super Smash Brothers roster. Little Mac, are you ready?" Little Mac raised his right glove in the air and let out a shout. "Three, two, one… GO!"

"_Alright, Mac,_" the boxer's coach, Doc Louis, encouraged via a small earpiece, courtesy of Master Hand, "_time to show off the fruits of your labor! Tear 'em up, kid!_" Little Mac sped towards the first Alloy, a Yellow one, and began his standard combo: a strong jab to the chest area followed by a powerful right hook, knocking the Alloy back a bit. He quickly dashed forward and unleashed a spinning backhand, his dash attack. Focusing on the other opponents, Little Mac jumped onto left middle platform and saw a Red Alloy coming for him. Smirking, he cocked his left arm backed and began building up energy. As the Red Alloy was about to land a hit, his glove shot forward, unleashing his forward smash and sending his foe back.

"_Nice going, kid. Now start showing of you signature moves!_" As he rolled out of the way of an aerial assault from a Green Alloy, Mac turned around and quickly began gathering the special energy Doc told him about. As his glove began glowing neon green, his fist once again shot forward, this time with his standard signature move.

"STAR PUNCH!" The Green Alloy went sailing away from the power of Little Mac's Star Energy, just enough to get his first knockout. Suddenly, the graceful Blue Alloy grabbed him from behind and tossed him back and forth between her and the Yellow Alloy from before, finally flinging the dazed boxer forward and over the edge.

From the audience, the Smasher noticed the Little Mac's damage meter went up more than what was usual from a simple tosses. "Perhaps a fluke?" Ness suggested.

Snake, who is usually silent and observing, shook his head "Nice try, kid. He probably took more damage because he isn't really used to grapples, being a boxer. Which brings to mind how is he going to recover?"

As Snake finished his theory, Mac was falling to his early defeat when he seemingly crouched in mid-air and shot his glove skyward, glove glowing from green to swirling green and gold. "STAR UPPERCUT!" The shining energy was apparently a sign of how powerfuk Star Energy was, as the upward signature move connected with the Blue Alloy and shooting her up, but just a bit short for a KO. As he descended back onto the stage, Mac let out a sigh of relief. That last attack was at 'Double Star' power rather than his usual 'Single Star', since his Star Power was always fluctuating. Seeing the Blue Alloy coming down and charging at him, he used his 'down' signature, Rope-A-Dope. Reflexes on overdrive for a few seconds, he easily dodged the Blue Alloy's smash attack and countered with his return jab and his skyward smash, a basic but powerful uppercut. Knowing that the female-esque foe was definitely done for, he moved onto the last three opponents, the Yellow from before and two Red Alloys.

Getting into a modified running stance, the Champ unleashed his side signature. "STAR RUSH!" With speed appropriate to his slim build he quickly pummeled the Yellow Alloy in front of him into the ground. Crouching down and giving it a low grounded punch, he quickly grabbed the rising Alloy and gave it rapid body shots before punching his foe forward and over the edge of the Battlefield. As the yellow fighter tried to recover, Little Mac decided to take a risk. He jumped off the main platform; just as the Yellow Alloy was about to make it, Mac's whole body shot downward towards the creature with a dive-bomb style punch. As the Yellow Alloy fell to its doom, the challenger quickly used Star Rush to get back on the stage.

Just as he was about to go for the last two, Master Hand's voice rang out once more. "Excellent job so far, young Mac, but it's time to step up the pace. Alloys: CRUEL MODE!"

"_Oh damn,_" Doc Louis exclaimed in Mac's ear as the two remaining Alloy's eyes glowed white and charged at the boxer, who quickly used Rope-A-Dope to evade a strong elbow from the first one, and rolled away from the second one. "_Don't worry, kid. Cruel Mode makes them stronger and smarter, but you've been doing that, too. Shown 'em what you're made of!_" With that, Little Mac rushed forward and side-stepped a kick, then unleashed a Star Punch, knocking his enemy back. He quickly went back on the defensive as the second came from behind and attacked with a barrage of kicks and punches. With a forward smash, the Alloy finally broke through Mac's defense and sent him barreling across the stage, only for him to get kicked by the other waiting Alloy.

Despite the heavy damage, Little Mac quickly got up. Having been in the receiving end of Mr. Sandman's punches, he could take a massive amount of whatever they can dish out, but he was tiring quickly. As the two Cruel Alloys charged, all hope seemed lost when, out of nowhere, the game changer appeared: the Smash Ball!

Giving a small laugh at his fortune, he used Star Rush to knock his opponents aside and raced towards the glowing orb of victory. Knowing he only had one shot, he brought his hand back, glove virtually humming with Star Energy as the Smash Ball came right in front of him. "STAR PUNCH!" Using as much power as he could, Mac was able to unleash a 'Triple Star' powered punch on the sphere, breaking and giving him wondrous power.

"_Good going kid!_" Doc hollered. "_Now don't hold back now, baby. Unleash the beast!_"

Little Mac smirked and he combined the energy of the Smash Ball and his Star Energy. Feeling like new, the boxer began to transform. His black muscle shirt ripped apart and he suddenly grew taller and bulked up immensely. From slim and fast one moment to strong and monstrous the next, the boxer pounded his gloves into the ground as his Final Smash, 'Giga Mac', was complete.

"GRAOOOOOOWWWRRR!" the behemoth boxer roared as he stomped towards his foes. The Alloys attacked him with strong moves, but Giga Mac barely even moved. As they attacked, Giga Mac cocked both his arms back and thrust them forward. "FLY!" he roared as the two gloves slammed into an Alloy each and sent them soaring all the way to the other side of the arena, knocking them out.

As the remaining figure on the platform reverted to normal, Master Hand appeared via portal and hovered in the air in front of the challenger. On baited breath Mac waited, running the whole match through his mind.

"You have excellent defense, endurance, and speed, befitting you profession. However, your power could use some work, and your grappling is your worst attribute, and that's not including that you're barely a middleweight." Mac sighed. After all of that training, he still needed work.

"However…you have proven that you can overcome these obstacles with cunning and determination. Thus, I have made my decision." Master Hand let out the results in a booming voice:

"The winner of this match, and newest Smasher in this tournament, is…LITTLE MAC!"

As the audience cheered, Little Mac was ecstatic. "Woohoo! Yeah!" He blistered the air in front of him with a flurry of body shots and flung his gloves into the air in victory.

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><p>As he settled into his new chambers, Mac was relaxing and basking in his newest accomplishment. Now all there is to do is train even harder and hopefully win the tournament, and perhaps make some new friends.<p>

Suddenly the door burst open as Doc Louis came in, arms filled with chocolate bars. "Hey kid!" he exclaimed as he tossed his load of cocoa goodness onto Mac, who let out a startled yelp as Doc laughed. "Here's some celebratory food for a job well done." He smiled at his student as he bit into his own bar.

Smiling back, Mac moved the bars onto his bedside desk before grabbing a bar himself. "There's still a long road ahead of me, coach. Let's see how far we can go."

"That's all we can do, man," Doc replied plopped down next to him and sighed. There was a comfortable silence before Doc spoke again. "Little Mac?"

The young man looked up at his trainer, who patted him on the back and chuckled.

"Good job, son. Good job." With that, Doc retired to his quarters. As night came and sleep claimed everyone, Mac's final thought was that he would give it his all, and see what the future holds for him.

**Well, Souldin? What do you think? Not my best work, but hopefully up to your contest's standards.**

**I'm using the 'Wii's Punch Out' version of Little Mac for this fic. He seems like he can make it on the next Smash Bros. roster. Also, I'm calling the special moves 'Signature Moves', since I want the Smashers to use more than just a set style of attacks.  
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**By the way, readers, I need some help on coming up with Mac's entrance. What should he do? Leave your idea in you review, along with what you think of this story.**

**I hope that you all enjoyed this story, and hopefully I will have the next chapter out soon.**

**Until next time…**


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